Fighting a Heatwave with the Power of Trees!

2024-07-11T16:52:42+00:00

Temperatures today are soaring to 105ºF in Utah's capital city, to over 115ºF in St. George, and the whole state is under an excessive heat warning that extends to Saturday night. In the midst of this heatwave, we're feeling extra grateful for the cooling power of trees. While concrete, roads, and metal absorb and re-emit heat, trees provide substantial relief from the heat by both providing shade and cooling through evapotranspiration. A healthy urban forest is one of our greatest tools in reducing the heat island effect generated by our concrete jungle.

Urban heat islands are caused by a lack of cooling abiotic factors in an environment in addition to abundant human activity. Although minimally perceptible on a small scale, the heat generated by individuals driving, using machinery, or even just jogging builds up, leading to a significant heat increase in the local area. In densely populated urban areas, the heat generated by just living our day-to-day lives with the heat trapped by urban structures accumulates, creating a sweltering heat zone.

Cities overall are much hotter than surrounding rural areas, because of comparably higher levels of human activity and lower square-footage of green space. Within cities too, there are areas that have far fewer trees, which leads to even higher temperatures than the rest of the city. This phenomenon is immediately noticeable in Salt Lake City, where shaded areas - like Sugar House or Capitol Hill - feel notably cooler than areas with fewer trees – like Rose Park or Poplar Grove. Although the difference in temperature in these areas might only be a couple degrees, this seemingly small increase in temperature is drastic, especially when the daily temps are reaching the triple digits. With only a 2° increase, energy demands can increase up to 9%, leading to higher energy costs and more pollution.

By growing the urban forest and minimizing these barren, extreme heat zones, we all benefit. We all benefit from lowering temperatures within the cityscape, reducing energy use, and creating welcoming spaces for us all to enjoy year-round. In addition to creating an overall more inviting city for us all to enjoy, we can help protect our neighbors from heat-related illness, keep our waterways clean, and reduce pollution – all by planting more trees. With Salt Lake City’s increased efforts to plant more trees on the West Side and TreeUtah’s partnerships with community organizations in areas in need of more trees, the city’s urban forest will continue to grow and, hopefully, help our community thrive equitably.

Want to help us reduce the heat island effect by bringing trees to neighborhoods in need? Make a donation today by clicking here.

Why We Need Old Growth Forests

2022-09-29T09:30:00+00:00

In 1859, Lt. Edward Beale travelled through the forests of northern Arizona and described it in his journal as “…the most beautiful region… a vast forest of gigantic pines, intersected frequently with open glades, sprinkled all over with mountains, meadows, and wide savannahs…” In the past 100+ years, the region has changed drastically. The ponderosa pine forests once covered up to 25 million acres ranging from the south of British Columbia to northern Mexico, from the western Great Plains to the western coast, and were filled with old-growth trees that were up to 800 years old. Today, the ponderosa pine forests in the American west are mostly filled with younger trees, which are more vulnerable to wildfires than their old-growth ancestors. Throughout the late 1800s, the ponderosa pines were inordinately logged. They provided high yields of high-quality lumber, making them the first choice for builders in the frontier era, leaving other trees untouched until their regional supply of ponderosas was depleted. Like other pines, the ponderosa has struggled to return to its former state after a prolonged history with heavy logging and the more recent threat of invasive bark beetles. While the dolent loss of old-growth ponderosas is somewhat alleviated by the continued, fruitful natural propagation of young trees, we have only recently begun to understand the unique benefits of old-growth forests.

Old-growth forests in Utah are rare. Utah’s famous Pando, an aspen grove once thought to be the world’s largest living organism (now surpassed by a fungal mat in Oregon that spreads over 2,000 acres), is itself 80,000 years old, but no individual tree in Pando is older than 130 years, which excludes it from the old-growth forest category. Even the forests in Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon are comprised mostly of younger trees that took root after the mountains were nearly cleared by loggers. By the 1890s, Utah became a net importer of lumber, after having logged any and all suitable trees from the local area to supply the community’s growth. The forests that survived logging are in areas that were difficult to access during the state’s booming, industrial growth in the 1800s. Some of the most significant examples are forests of ponderosa pines located in the deserts of southern Utah, such as the stretch of old-growth trees in Dixie National Forest’s Red Canyon.

Fortunately, Utah’s forests are more protected than they have been historically, which hopefully means Utah’s future includes old-growth trees and the community who lives there at that time will reap the benefits of the work we put into ensuring at least some of our forests are well-protected today. Utah’s Division of Forestry, Fire, & State Lands implemented a new 10-year plan to revitalize the state’s forests in 2020, kicking off a new period of improved forest stewardship and protection. While the plan leaves a lot on the table, it’s one big step in securing a stable future for our state’s forests. Then, on a national level, the Biden administration recently sought out public input on old-growth forest conservation as part of Executive Order 14072: “Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies”, which will hopefully lead to even bigger steps towards greater protections for old-growth forests nationally and in Utah.

With efforts on the community, state, and national level, Utah’s future – albeit distant future – will include thousands of old-growth trees in state forests. Old-growth forests are key for sequestering carbon emissions – holding far more carbon than younger forests. They are also essential for maintaining a healthy water supply by storing and then gradually releasing clean water while also mitigating flood and fire impacts – all things that are desperately needed now and will be in even higher demand in the future. Our future generations need to the forests and so do future generations of wild animals and plants. Old-growth forests are required for the continued survival of thousands of species, without which Utah just wouldn’t feel like home. The remarkable wildlife that call Utah home need trees to survive and so do we.

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Fighting a Heatwave with the Power of Trees!

Why We Need Old Growth Forests